I assume traffic is horrible in LA just like it is in NYC? I drive an auto and I already get ____ed off going to and from the city in crawling traffic.

 

I'm a bad enough driver as it is with an automatic, god help whoever is on the road with me when I try to learn a manual...

Plus, this is the very first "new" car...I don't want to use it as a guinea pig.

 

The girl part makes some sense. But I can hold her hand most of the time other than taking off and in traffic. Been together 8 years.. so we can wait 5 minutes to hold hands

No ciggarette smoke of any kind in my car

No cellphone while driving except with a handsfree (has been shown to be as distracting as drinking and driving)

Again, no cigs, no phone

barely better mileage, and the tC is a rarity in that nature (they sacrificed a lot of performance to make an auto get better mileage than a manual)

Right hand on clutch???

Driving in Minneapolis crappy traffic I still dont notice it. But then again, I learned in a manual and have driven them most of my life.

 

This concept of "the stick is faster" is not always true, just like the MPG ratings where the auto does better. First of all, you've got to hit all the shifts just right to get an advantage, one slip up will cost you. That danger is there EVERY time you shift, whereas the auto rarely misses a shift.

The xB stick has a super short 1st gear. Whenever I'm following one and we take off from a stop, I have to let off my accelerator while they shift to 2nd. I wonder how the other gears/shift points match up. Once you get to cruising speeds there's even less of a difference between the two, IMO.

Like I've said before... You CAN shift the automatic, you just don't HAVE to!

Do you take the stairs or the escalator? The escalator is like the Auto - it'll get me there if I just do nothing, or I can take control and speed right up it. If you're stuck on the stairs (manual), you WILL be walking all the way to the top.

I've always been a fan of the saying "Work smarter, not harder".

 

autos are great when you have a 2 hour commute in one direction everyday. And that's on a good commute day when you have to travel 50 miles!

 

Driven by comparable drivers in the tC, the stick WILL win. Yes, you can shift manually with an auto, but due to the delay of the auto when you shift that way, I can shift just as fast if not faster with a manual. The auto is also geared differently, so you can shift any way you like.. the manual will win. Now, if you suck at a manual then you will be slower with a manual. But I have never driven the auto version of a car that I could drive as quick as the manual. The reason that the tC auto gets better mileage is that it is so conservatively geared. Autos, to a degree are also "slipping" all of the time, which is why most of them are not as adept for performance. I have driven the tC auto, and I can gaurantee without doubt I can easilly perform better in the 5 spd. Nothing against the auto at all. Just some info

 

If you're going to drive like an idiot please don't get a car at all.

 

driving low speeds between 2nd and 3rd gear is kind of a pain, but nothing i cant deal with. the fun and control of a manual is more than worth it.

 

If I wanted a car that I can race in and win most of the time, I would have bought a Viper or a Cobra. Besides, everyone around here drives Civics with a vtec, k&n air filter/intake, a park bench for "down force", and a fart can for noise. Oh, and I can't forget the absolutely hideous body fat they put on. Yea yea I know "it's better than stock". If you bought a car that didn't suck (ahem, Scions) then stock is great =)

 

hmmmmmm...........if you care about performance then get stick and if you wanna have more control of your car and have fun driving then get stick if you wanna be bored and be lazy then get auto...........especially if you plan on diong mods then plz dont get auto cuz you'll just feel stupid when ppl come up and say "oh damn its auto"....and once you learn you'll get used to it its no big deal ....when i drive an auto car now im always reaching for the clutch ..and I get bored ......so I hope i helped in making your choice

 

Personally, I drive 40 miles to work every day (twice, if you count the ride home as well), and I do it in a manual. I drove my 5-speed civic for the last 10 years (all through highschool, college and a couple years beyond), and I picked up my 5-speed tC last month.
In all but the most bumper-to-bumper driving, I greatly prefer the extra element of control that a manual provides, as well as the better accelleration, more power (less power loss, actually), and better gas mileage...

 

You get better mileage with AUTO.... I commute about 80 miles myself everyday for school and work. getting stuck in traffic with a manual will be hell.

 

im 18 now, when 17 i jumped into a high HP sports car MT. Not cool for everyday driving. I down graded to a lower HP car and auto for now.

 

sorry it has been a long time since i look at this article but If you got nothing good to say please stf.u and dont tell me what I can and cannot do pig

 

Most advantages/disadvantages between an auto and stick are really subjective. One person will say auto is boring because you can't do anything but brake and accelerate, and another will say a manual is bad because in traffic using all of your limbs is worse than using only two with an auto. One person will say a manual is more fun because you get to have more control of your car, and another will say an auto is more fun because you can cruise around in a very relaxed fashion.

Aside from that, one advantage of auto from a more objective perspective, is that less things can go wrong due to driver error. Aside from doing really stupid things like dropping into drive from neutral, it's hard to really mess up something with an auto. With a manual, on the other hand, you can misshift and do serious damage to your car, you can wear out the clutch, which can be pricey to replace, etc. A manual, however, is a lot cheaper to replace than an auto, if you ever need to do that.

Performance-wise, a manual tC will smoke an auto tC. They feel like different cars to me. I've driven three different auto tCs before I bought my manual tC, and they felt a lot more sluggish and slow than mine. A manual, in the hands of a skilled driver, is superior to an automatic for most applications (not all, of course). A skilled driver will keep the car in the right gear for the job at all times, whereas an automatic often downshifts incorrectly, or too early/late, or otherwise tries to guess what you want it to do.

Just make sure that the transmission you choose is suited for what you want in your car, be it comfort, or performance, or whatever else. Don't get sucked into peer pressure. It's easy to choose manual, for example, because it's faster on the tC, but if you don't even know what a redline is, should you care about that? Just think before you buy.

 

imo, if you want to have a "relationship" with the car or plan to mod it for performance, get a stick.

if you plan on "pretending" you drive a "race car" and are not going to add any performance and/or are going to primarily drive in traffic, get an auto....

first and foremost, it's a camry, remember that. we're talking over 14 seconds here....stick or no stick, who cares?

imo, no sense spending all that energy to shift a car that is gonna spend much of its time in traffic and/or is never really gonna be a class competitor....unless you feel the need to be really involved in getting from here to there.

i drove sticks for years and unless i'm driving a real performance car, stick is a hassle....better to drive with hands free for the girl, in n out, phone, etc.

 

With a tC that is true, in 99% of all cars that is false.

 

^Remembers to get the tC in auto then.

I prefer the auto. Stick just seems too much of a hassle to me, esp with the traffic. It's all personal preference thought like everyone else said. Oh, and I know itss off topic and all, but I read that less than 10% of Americas and Canadians drive stick, hmm, I wonder why that is... just food for thought.

 

WHAT?! YOU WANNA RACE?

lol

 

I refused to get an auto even though the dealership kept trying to sell me one. I've driving a stick for 7 years and could not see myself getting an auto.

Kind of off topic, but a pet peeve of mine is when someone gets exhaust for their auto. That is the most god awful sound in the world